: Armenia a martyr nation A historical sketch of the Armenian people from traditional times to the present tragic days by Gabrielian Mugurdich Chojhauji - Armenian question; Armenia

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came to an end. The following quotation from Professor Sayce seems to confirm this view: "A more serious difficulty exists in the fact that Sarduris I calls himself the son of Lutipris, whereas the king of Uradhu, against whom Shalmaneser had to contend in 857 and 845 B.C., was Arame, and already, in 833 B.C., only twelve years later, his antagonist was Sarduris. It is, however, quite possible that the reign of Lutipris had been a short one of less than twelve years. But I am more inclined to conjecture that Sarduris I was the leader of a new dynasty, the ill successes of Arame in his wars with Assyrians forming the occasion for his overthrow." This conjecture also explains why the kings of this dynasty do not call themselves the kings of Ararat, and have no reference to Arame, while much Assyrianism exists in their culture.

In regard to the origin of Ararat, or Arardhi, it is certainly not a Semitic word, neither is it an Accadian, were it so, we would have been told. Moses of Khorene thought it was called Ara-ard, in reference to a defeat of Ara, the king of Armenia, in a bloody conflict with the Babylonians about eighteen centuries before our era. Another Armenian historian makes Arardhi to derive its name from King Ara, in honor of the king, it being composed of Ara and Ardh, "field" or "plain," on account of his wise administration and the improvements which he made in the land.

Brockhous' definition and derivation of Arardhi is the most satisfactory of all, namely, Ar, in Sanskrit the root of "Aryan" or "nobles," and ardh, in ancient Armenian the "plains" or "field," thus Arardhi or Ararat meaning "the plains of nobles" or "Aryans."

We know that the Assyrians sprang out of the ancient Babylonian people; they were of the same blood and race. Assyria was colonized from Babylonia. Thus, their early acquaintance with the highlands of Armenia, by the name of Urardhu, accounts for their calling the Kings of Armenia the kings of Urardhu or Ararat.

There has been a great deal of discussion among the scholars as to whether these Vaunic kings and people belong to the Aryan race or not, and whether their language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. The question may be considered still a debatable one, though the consensus of opinion of the modern writers is in the negative. Yet a man like the late Dr. Hincks, who was the first to begin the decipherment of the Vaunic inscriptions, has recorded his opinion in the following words: "I flatter myself, that those who read this paper will admit that I have made a beginning, and gone a considerable way in the decipherment and interpretation of a set of inscriptions, which, however slight may be their value in a historical point of view, are invaluable to the philologer, as being beyond all comparison the oldest specimens of the Asiatic branch of the Indo-Germanic family; nay, for aught we know to the contrary, they are more ancient than any Greek which has come down to us."

It must have been during the reign of Rusas II, the King of Ararat, that the sons of Sennacherib, Adrammelech and Shareser, after their assassination of their father, escaped into the land of Ararat or Armenia . For we know that Rusas II was contemporary of Esar-haddon, Sennacherib's son, who succeeded him . The Armenian history makes Sgaiordi the king who welcomed the Assyrian princes in to his realm: probably it is a mistake.

H'racha, as the ally of Nebuchadnezzar, marched at the head of his forces with the Babylonian monarch against Syria and Palestine. On his return, he brought with him a small colony from Judea, mostly nobles, among whom was a prince by the name of Shambat, whose posterity in the middle ages furnished the kings of Pagradit dynasty in Armenia.

Among the successors of H'racha, as the rulers of Armenia, Tigranes I is spoken of, by our historians, as really royal; wise in his administration of the affairs of the State and just in his dealings with the high and low. In the revolt of the Persians, and consequent defeat of Astyages and the Medes; which resulted in the accession of Cyrus to the throne of the united Medo-Persian empire; Tigranes must have rendered some valuable service to the son of Cambyses. This may account for the great friendship that existed between these two worthy champions of human liberty. And according to the summons of Prophet Jeremiah , the forces of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz joined the Medo-Persian army and accomplished the overthrow of the wicked empire of Babylonia .

The descendants of Tigranes I maintained some sort of a tributary rule over the northeastern part of the country, but the major part of the country was ruled by the governors appointed by the Medo-Persian kings. Yet little as this tributary state was, judging by the references found in the Behistan inscriptions, revolts were not infrequent. The following is from Darius Hystaspis' inscriptions .

"... Afterwards I sent Dadarshesh the Armenian, he is my servant, I said to him, 'go and crush that rebellious army, which revolts against.' Dadarshesh went to subdue Armenia. The rebels fought against him, Ormazd came to my help. My army destroyed many of the enemy's army."

King Vahi was the last of the descendants of Tigranes I, who at the head of his army was fighting with the Persian forces against the Macedonian invaders under Alexander the Great. King Vahi valiantly fought against the Grecian armies in defense of the rights of his people and country, and in the terrible conflict he fell . From this time on the Macedonian rulers controlled all of Armenia, except a small district between the rivers Araxes and Kur in the remote northeastern mountain fastnesses. After the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans, Armenia recovered her independence; it, however, did not last very long.

Arsaces VI, or the Great, appointed his brother Valarsaces king over Armenia , and these two countries, governed by one reigning family, were in full sympathy and accord with each other and for a long time in a firm alliance, becoming worthy antagonists of the Romans, who were pushing eastward over the territories once subdued by Alexander the Great.

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